Blood and Roses
by StarlitGemini
Summary: Rebirth of my original story. I appreciate your time, reviews, and such. Will write a better summery as story comes along.


Blood and Roses REWORK Prologue - Dreams of Winter

A single torch illuminated the ancient ironwood door that lead to the Stark's' crypt held by a young woman wrapped up in a long black fur cloak that stopped at the calf of her boots she looked no older then 14, pretty average size for a lady her age though lacking in the height department a bit however, not one less bit beautiful long dark hair was pulled into a loose bun leaving her bangs to frame her long pale face partially concealed by the hood. Her most striking feature were her eyes, a rare and beautiful pale violet color they seemed to glow as the torches flame flickered and danced bouncing eerie shadows off stone walls and direwolf statues that stood guard. There was a minute of hesitation she'd been in the crypts the many times with her family but, that didn't make them any less frightening she knew of the ancient spirits that made their homes in the lower levels or so Old Nan had said... She shook off the remainder of her fears planted her feet in the dirt and finally with a heave she pushed the heavy door open just enough for her to slip through and close it quickly, and to her surprise the torches that lined the walls were already lit someone had been down here recently.

The crypts were in the oldest part of the grounds it was said the vault was larger than Winterfell itself all the family past and some present were here, the lower the level the older the person. The Kings of Winter and Lords of Winterfell had their likeness carved into stone statues, iron swords forged upon their deaths to ward off evil spirts the oldest nothing but rust stains in their laps and direwolves curled around the feet only a few broke this tradition, the tombs of her uncle Brandon and aunt Lyanna who rested beside their father Rickard. They had died in Robert's Rebellion or War of The Usurper as the realm was calling it, uncle and grandfather victims of the Mad Kings' insanity, while her aunt had been kidnapped by the prince Rhaegar all she had heard were whispers and rumors father had found her dying in room that smelled of blood and roses somewhere in the south. This is where she stopped in front of her aunt's mournful looking statue, she had asked why Lyanna looked so sad however, her father rarely talked about her it still hurt very much for him.

"Hello Aunt Lyanna.." She said quietly studying her aunts face intently, in life she heard her aunt was a great beauty, rode horses as good as any Northmen if not better, the young woman had even heard a rumor that if her grandfather had allowed it she might have even carried a sword. Lyanna was called the She-Wolf, fierce, lively, and dead before her time is one of the few things her father had said about her, she knew that he loved her but the memories still cut deep for him. The young woman let out a soft sigh and sat at the statues feet she still couldn't figure out why she was down here, in the middle of the night no less or perhaps maybe she was dreaming? she asked herself this looking up at the stone face of he aunt. She sat there for awhile eyes closed and a scowl on her face, letting her senses expand outward listening to the wind softly whisper though the crypts then she shot up as like she'd heard a ghost however, it was sound of a harp. It was a beautiful sad sounding melody coming from deeper within the corridor, she bolted up off the floor and began stalking towards the sound trying her best to mask her footfalls.

As she neared the tombs that lie in wait for her family the music got louder and corridor seemed to shift and brighten until she was no longer in the crypts but, in front of a pair of bronze and wood doors slightly cracked open. The source of the sound was louder then ever behind the doors so, without hesitation she slipped herself though into a huge cavernous room, with what she could only assume was The Iron Throne at the end of the hall. The high ceilings that resonated the music was accompanied by large arches and pillars with a galley for the court on the right side and the left side were seven stained glass windows depicting the The New Gods, braziers burned brightly on either side and the various sized dragon skulls lined the walls with a red three headed dragon on a black field. Her mouth made something of a gaping motion like a fish it was the great hall of the Red Keep during the Targaryen rule but, which Targaryens was the real question. The space shifted again she was in the same room however, it looked as if had been scorched from the inside out the roof was gone while ash and snow fell inside, this time across the hall sitting at the foot the ugly chair were two people.

One was definitely a Targaryen, the silvery hair was a dead give away, black armor with the dragon of his house emblazoned on his breastplate in flashing rubies while a three headed dragon helm sat at their feet and in his hands was a harp as silver as his hair he was playing the mournful melody to a pale woman with dark hair and a crown of winter roses holding two wrapped bundles looking at them as if her world had fallen apart, upon moving and closer inspection she gasped and began running. It was her aunt there was no mistake about it the statue hadn't done her justice but in her heart she knew then her brain clicked again. The man playing the harp was the prince Rhaegar and neither had noticed her quick approach, they continued on as if she wasn't there. Rhaegar setting down his harp and pulling Lyanna and the bundles in close to him.

"They are the song of ice and fire, I've seen it my love, trust in them." The prince murmured in her ear, looking at the children in her arms. Her aunt replied in a slightly cracking voice. "I know however, what we did was wrong.. how many thousands because of our selfishness." she began weeping again. The prince only held her tighter before looking up straight at the young woman, his violet orbs blazed into hers. She reeled back and fell on her tailbone very frightened. Finally the space shifted one more time to blackness and then she fell from what seemed to be a great height above the world. The young woman saw it all... the free cities of the east, Slavers Bay she assumed from the pyramids, she saw the smoking sea of Valryia, and even the Seven Kingdoms she noted, then a vast white wasteland the dark sky dancing with the auroras, a palace of ice came into view as she neared closer and closer. She wasn't afraid however, not even as visions of an army of the dead gathering in front of a throne of ice, a figure with a crown of thorns and blazing blue eyes, it shifted again back to falling above Westeros in the middle of a war?

"What is this!?" She screamed in her head. There were bodies everywhere, the waters of the Riverlands ran red, Blackwater Bay danced with the green flames of wildfire, the Reach was burning, the Westerlands emptied of gold and troops, the Stormlands looked as though they had fallen completely. When the North came into view she choked, the sea crashed over Winterfell's high walls and when it pulled back her home was burning, the proud banners gone and replaced with something she could not see finally, The Wall came into her sights however it was a nightmare it was crashing down atop Castle Black, the army of the dead awaited on the other side their numbers were unbelievable and at the head of the various rotting corpses was the same thing she saw in the ice palace. Then she saw IT darting over the horizon, she heard the crack of it wings and felt it's roar deep within her, it resonated filling her with strength, the creature was before her now with it's mouth open rows of razor teeth wide open ready to swallow her. The last thing she saw was the ball of fire building up before she screamed.

A noise of fright filled the room and the woman shot out of a pile of furs darting across the room to empty her stomach into a bucket, retching and crying all the while, when she was done she tried to get up, still with tears rolling down her face and shaking like a leaf in the winter winds. Her hair was a ratted mess, violet orbs were feverish filled with a crazed look, the young woman shook harder and tried to empty her stomach again only to fail and dry heave. After a few more moments of that she pulled herself up off the floor with a soft whimper hot water ran though the walls here like blood in mans veins yet, she was freezing so she relit the fireplace and brazier by her bed still quite shaky. She poured herself a goblet of water and walked toward her window opening the shutters to look outside, the moon was high in the sky and the morning was far away she was frightened the dreams were more frequent as of late, longer and more detailed the maester said she was listening to Old Nan's stories to often. However, something inside nagged her especially when the beast appeared at the fallen wall above the undead army.. it called to her yet burned her in the flame or was it cleansing her she never knew, she always woke up after that.

She sipped drink and looked out over the moors deep in thought, change was on the wind she felt it, and her fathers house words rang clear as bell in her head. "Winter is Coming." it echoed. It was a warning and reminder not just to the North but all of Westeros the feeling of ice shot up her spine as her thoughts shifted to stories from North of the Wall, the sky began to lighten and morning crept up before she would settled back into her furs trying to forget the dreams the haunted her. She'd talk to father after they broke their fast, she couldn't hold it in any longer. "Winter is coming." the repeating phrase that finally put her to sleep.

End Chapter 00

A/N : Hello everyone I'm so so sorry this took so long! I had some struggles mental health, and I moved out so making time to write was hard. Now I'm doing quite a bit better and settling in The idea for this story originally came from one of my late night thought bunnies and the need for something therapeutic, when I wrote the original 1st chapter it was honestly written too fast and lacking detail. So after months of on and off writing, scraping, rewriting and frustration I'm happily presenting the reworked version of Blood and Roses! I appreciate any time taken to read and review and I happily accept any feedback given. I would also invite someone to discuss some future details I'd like a second opinion on. Many thanks once again.  
StarlitGemini formally, DragonOfTheNorthwest.


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